This is not about religion, it is about brutal authoritative state systems. The ME is the way it is because of their political system. Religion is
just the excuse used to keep people realising the truth.

The ME was divided into nations by Britain and France after WWI. They installed leaders that were cooperative with western interests, and would keep
their populations under control, brutal control.

The interests of the Islamic people differed from those of the west, so the only way to keep them in line was with brutal auhority.

So stop blaming Islam, and Muslims, and brown people, and realise it's your own governments, and capitalist interests, that have caused this.

Originally posted by IkNOwSTuff
Id love to see some of our Muslim members jump in to defend this one.

Yes Islam is a religion of peace and women are protected and treated as equals under Islamic law

and how many thousands of women and men have been raped in the u.s. armed forces with absolutely no charges against anyone or even an investigation?
a mind boggling report on the estimated numbers over time came out the other day.

not defending medieval islamic practices in some countries, but please don't play the self-righteously superior card--it doesn't fly in a society
like ours where child abuse was a taboo subject and epidemic at the same time for centuries..

The British installation lasted until Ba'athism took root. Remember the Arab Republic? Ever wonder why the Egyptian, Syrian, and Iraqi flag look so
alike? Who put those people in power? Wasn't the Anglos, it was themselves!

What about the two Yemens (you know, the Socialist one and the Religious one?) that later merged?

Yeah, there's been a lot of board movement since the collapse of the Ottomans. Sorry, but this poop didn't come from our dog.

The religious have driven back the secularists in the Middle East. This is entirely religious.

In the midst of the French Revolution, Napoleon seizes Egypt in 1798, setting in motion century-long European scramble for the Middle East.
Eventually, the British would take Egypt, Sudan and the small states of the Persian Gulf. France would seize Algeria and Morocco. And Arab resistance
to European encroachment would prompt much bloody violence.

1914 - 1936 World War I sees Europe complete the seizure of the Middle East.

1945 - 1973
The Rise of the U.S. in the Middle East
President Franklin D. Roosevelt meets with Saudi King Abdul Aziz in 1945; Credit: National Archives

As World War II ends, the United States becomes the great outside power in the Middle East, with three main concerns: Persian Gulf oil; support and
protection of Israel, founded in 1948; and containment of the Soviet Union. The goals prove difficult to manage, especially through the rise of Arab
nationalism, two major Arab-Israeli wars and an Arab oil embargo.

Seriously? That's the defense? The victim mentality?? That the Middle East is so weak
they are bowing to the West at every whim?

Honestly, that's also kind of a racist vantage to have. You believe an entire swath of people are so weak they cannot stand up for themselves? Your
reasoning implies that the whites are superior and need to be benevolent to their lessers. That the west is so powerful we control every aspect of
their lives. That nothing happens between those points in time that changes anything? No self-actualization can occur?

It's all the West, right?

Maybe they need to break the cycle of victimhood and put down the Koran, and pick-up a self-help book.

Originally posted by Lostmymarbles
It is estimated that over 200,000 people were burned at the stake, mostly woman during the "cleansing" period for Christians and Catholics and those
estimates are conservative because many places never recorded their burnings.

Estimated by who?

Your own imagination? You obviously can't provide a link. But let's not miss an opportunity to take a pot shot at the West?

What do American and British Muslims feel about Sharia law?

• 32 % of American Muslims believe Shariah should be the supreme law of the land in the United States.
• 39% felt that U.S. courts should consult Shariah law when adjudicating cases involving Muslims.
• 45% did not agree with this idea.

seriuosly? is that like a 12 year olds defense? of course you cant lump ALL people into any one group, but when others stand around and let it
happen, guess what, THEY ARE PART OF THE GROUP. lol especially when its written into law? wtf haha

not all christians are child molesters and not all jews are black market body parts snatchers either, accept when we catch them doing it, we send
them to prison, not beat the victims lol

and to the people saying "well its their custom so what" if a country or even your own country makes child molestation and child rape legal in your
country, are you going to go down town and join in the fun? MORONS

If you think what is going on in the ME is not because of 105 years of western influence then you are delusional.

The ME used to be powerful, the Ottoman Empire. It would have become a massive world power, and a serious threat to the west, from it's oil. The
west has managed for the last 105 years to keep that from happening.

The dissolution of the Ottoman Empire started in 1908, the same year oil was discovered, and the British invaded to keep control of that oil. Western
nations have been there ever since.

The old Soviet empire had a long border with the Middle East. The desperation of the West to maintain control stems from the potential for those
two regions to join. If that had happened, the Middle East would have had the weapons to protect their resources. The resources of the Soviet Union
and the Middle East together would have been comparable to those of the West, and, by virtue of most of the world's reserves of oil being within the
borders of those two empires, and thus the potential for high oil prices, a good part of the West's wealth could have been claimed by the East. Hence
the West's large military expenditures to maintain control in that volatile region. J.W. Smith, World's Wasted Wealth II, (Institute for
Economic Democracy, 1994), pp. 294 - 295

“Virtually the entire colonial world was breaking free, and their resources would be turned to the care of their own people, and no longer could
be siphoned to the old imperial centers of capital for a fraction of its value.” J.W. Smith, talking about the weakening of the former Imperial
European powers from World War II

The South is assigned a service role: to provide resources, cheap labor, markets, opportunities for investment and, lately, export of pollution.
For the past half-century, the US has shouldered the responsibility for protecting the interests of the “satisfied nations” whose power places
them “above the rest,” the “rich men dwelling at peace within their habitations” to whom “the government of the world must be entrusted,”
as Winston Churchill put the matter after World War II. — Noam Chomsky, Year 501, (South End Press, 1993), Chapter 2

we have about 50% of the world's wealth, but only 6.3% of its population....In this situation, we cannot fail to be the object of envy and
resentment. Our real task in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships which will permit us to maintain this position of
disparity....To do so, we will have to dispense with all sentimentality and day-dreaming; and our attention will have to be concentrated everywhere on
our immediate national objectives....We should cease to talk about vague and...unreal objectives such as human rights, the raising of the living
standards, and democratization. The day is not far off when we are going to have to deal in straight power concepts. The less we are then hampered by
idealistic slogans, the better.

... We should recognize that our influence in the Far Eastern area in the coming period is going to be primarily military and economic. We should
make a careful study to see what parts of the Pacific and Far Eastern world are absolutely vital to our security, and we should concentrate our policy
on seeing to it that those areas remain in hands which we can control or rely on. George Kennan, U.S. State Department Policy Planning, Study #23,
February 24, 1948

Saudi Arabia remains the cornerstone, producing 50 percent of the whole world's [oil] supply. So in order to keep this economic balm flowing, to
keep the status quo static and the balance sheets of the major oil companies brimming, we've [the U.S.] installed our military as a kind of mega
police force in the region. Our official reason for being there is to ensure “stability,” one of the great buzzwords in the history of business,
but this is nothing more than spin — the military is in the Middle East to guarantee that whatever comes out of the ground is exploitable and
controlled by American multinationals. Johnny Angel, It's the Oil, Stupid, LA Weekly, September 26, 2001

Jews murdered and tortured to death christian children in the middle ages ,killed millions in the Ukraine and Russia ,are still killing Palestinians
everyday ................. im tired of this crap they are alway Innocent and always the victims

Originally posted by BlindBastards
Of course it’s harsh and I 100% disagree and detest these sorts of things but its their culture, their lands and their laws. It’s as simple as
that, really. It’s no one else’s business what happens in their little slice of hell. Though, this is one of many reasons why I very much dislike
religion... I don’t think people from the West can really judge considering how they let their governments treat them. Only here they do it covertly
and more through financial means. Over there it’s very overt and often brutal.

Are you seriously comparing the "west" to these Muslim countries? We can judge all we want. Their way of life is pathetic. And so are their laws.
Bash us all you want but don't ever compare us to the brutal ways of the Muslim countries.I can bet you our government here in the US treats us
better then any Islamic country

I read this story off-site and I cant see what the problem is here. She isnt getting lashes because she got raped. She is getting lashes because
after an investigation, it was found that she had pre-marital sex with someone else besides her father.

Like it or not, it the law of the land over there and this girl knew the law, knew the consequences of violating that law, and did the crime anyway.
I have zero empathy for this girl whatsoever. Dont do the crime if ya cant do the time is the mantra chanted in the USA right? How is this
different?

Lol to all of the replies about how barbaric Muslim countries are. Those types of statements go a long way to showing that ignorance is indeed alive
and well on ATS. Think the good ole' USA is better than Muslim countries? Think we have more freedoms here as opposed to the Middle East? If so, a
quick search of World Freedom Watch report 2012 is quite revealing.

USA ranks 19th in the world for personal freedoms and property rights. In fact, if you take out the criteria of having economic freedoms due to having
the reserve currency, the US would rank 50th...in the world...for freedom.
Some countries that beat out the "Beacon of Freedom"?

Saudi Arabia
United Arab Emirates
Turkey
Even Syria bested the USA in 4 out of the 6 criteria.

Even more shocking...15 of the remaining countries that bested the US in freedom were either communist or socialist.

So how did these barbaric Sharia practicing countries best the USA if they are soooo bad???????

The USA is chock full of women who have deluded themselves into believing in the "movement" and hence, the social fabric of this nation is
non-existant. The institution of marriage niw fails more than it succeeds here. Porn and sex on tv have become the norm. Kids as young as 5 are being
taught sexual education. The friggin list goes on an on here in the US.

While I dont subscribe to Sharia law as a whole, it sure works as a deterrent and as a result, there is far less crime in Muslim countries as well as
forcing women to keep their damn legs closed...which the USA could definitely use more of.

Third worlders living under a Feudal Theocracy. It would have happened if it was Islam or Christianity (Read: Uganda where Christians will do the
exact same thing.) so stop making it an Islam thing - It's a product of socially regressive dimwits and not religion "taken with a pinch of salt"
like it should be.

Funnily enough in Qatar, a first world Muslim nation under Sharia law, this # never happens.

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